FFVII: Jetonna
by jetonna
Summary: Set in the future a year or so after meteor, new dangers have arisen... really bad summary, I'm sorry. Rated for Language(Cid), and it's *NOT* self-insertion. Partial chapter only.


Final Fantasy VII: Jetonna 

Chapter One 

_ Alea lacta est. "The die is cast"   
I have started, and I plan to finish. _

  
    Deep in the shadows of a ruined lab, a light started to blink. The machinery, covered in thick layers of dust -some smashed beyond repair from the rubble, began to hum once again, restored. Lights flickered at first tentatively, then grew stronger, while power coarsed through the wires. Through the dusty haze, the aura of the lab began to glow once more as it was energized with sudden life. Back up generators began humming -an addition to the voices of the machines active, singing in it's song of revival. Behind all this lively commotion of the machines, in the back of the lab, a row of tanks were situated in the umbra of the sun. Deep in a tank, a figure hovered in what appeared to be pure mako. It was a naked humanoid; feminine. As power pulsed to the tank, the mako bubbled. A voice snapped on the PA.   
    "Ahh... my lovely creation. It is finally time for your awakening. Arise!"   
At this, the creature's eyes snapped open. They shifted slowly and carefully, taking in the desolate and ruined lab. The mako began to drain from the tank, and the creature sank to the floor. She stood somewhat shakily at first, but then her movements became more coordinated, refined, as though she'd forgotten how to walk and stand but then remembered. As the voice came on again, her eyes grew annoyed, although her face was perfectly blank. Locating the PA system and the recording, she lashed out against the container, breaking the glass. Making her way to the PA, she destroyed it in one swipe. Finally a word was uttered from her lips. 

    "Hojo..." The indifferent mask was finally shattered as a look of hatred covered her beautiful face. 

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    Cloud knew that the day was going to be really bad from the moment he woke up. First of all, he'd woken up lying face down on the hard wood floor to the sound of Cid and Yuffie squabbling, and the lovely aroma of burnt toast. Then, as he was drinking the weird ShinRa coffee mix he gagged on some piece of... UPoS (unidentified Piece of shit). Then the phone rang. It had to be Reeve... with /really/ bad news... 

    "Are you sure?!?!?!?" Yuffie shrieked. "Absolutely really really really sure?!?!?!"   
Reeve sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

    "I know that it sounds impossible, but then again this was Jenova we were dealing with. How this happened I have absolutely no clue. Unfortunately, it seems as though we didn't do a very good job when we destroyed it and Hojo... because something came back."   
Turning back to his desk, he shuffled through the messy pile of files he had there until he found one and opened it. Taking out pictures and some heat readings of the planet, he showed them to the group. 

    "See this one? This one is supposed to show the level of heat at the northern crater. Since it's up north, it's obvious that the level of heat is going to be pretty low... but suddenly... it just seems to spike here, briefly, before lowering... somewhat. It's higher than before now. And these," he said, pulling out more photos, " are of the monsters up near Icicle. What do you guys think?" he asked as he handed them out. The group shuffled through the pictures. Yuffie exclaimed surprisedly as she glanced at one. 

    "Holy shit! What the fuck is that?! It looks worst than those damn Jenova things we fought during Meteor!"   
The picture she'd caught sight of was of a grossly mutated dark dragon. It's scales were darker than the black cave around it, and it's eyes glowed red. It was huge; at least five times the size of an average dragon, and it's claws extended for what looked about two to three feet long in length. Some acidic looking goo dripped from its mouth. Cloud grimaced as he looked at it. The dragon seemed to be grinning ferally at him, as though mocking him. It's red eyes appeared to be staring straight at him. Staring in its eyes, Cloud could almost swear he saw it move... 

    "Cloud?"   
He blinked. Tifa looked at him worriedly. 

    "Are you alright?"   
Cloud shook his head a bit to clear the fuzzy feeling he was getting, then replied, 

    "I'm alright... the Jenova stuff must be getting to me."   
Tifa gave another worried glance at him before shrugging it off. The group continued to shuffle through some more photos of the new monsters. Each resembled one that they'd fought previously, but instead were 'upgraded' new versions that looked tougher and meaner than the ones they knew. With the ommitance of Yuffie's outbursts every time she saw one that looked worst than the weapons, the group was relatively calm. After they had finished, Cid couldn't take anymore as Reeve reached for /another/ file. 

    "What the fuck do you want us to do here Reeve?! Are you trying to tell us that the god damn planet is in danger again?! The hell! I thought we destroyed that motherfucking bastard already, with that dumbass screwed up piece of shit alien AND her frigging son!"   
Yuffie joined in as well, but her protest wasn't quite as expletive as Cid's. Reeve sighed. 

    "I'm afraid that we're going to have to fight again. I know," he said, hold up his hands as others protested, "that we thought the threat was over, and that we'd have a nice vacation as the planet's heroes. Unfortunately, this just seems to change things a little. I know that it seems to be a little on the imaginative side, but I believe that it's Hojo or Jenova back from the 'dead'. I've put scientists on duty to monitor the schematics of the crater. However, we really need a team to go up there and investigate. I don't know any other people that are as well suited as you guys... unless, of course, you really want me to send up the turks." Yuffie made a face as Reeve mentioned the turks. 

    "Ew," she said, "not those guys! How can you trust them? They seem like a bunch of no good slobs to me." Reeve smiled slightly at that. 

    "I'll have to make sure that they never hear that," he said. Sighing, he explained to Yuffie, "The turks are an elite fighting group. They know ShinRa, and they know how the system works. They're loyal -and trustworthy under your pay. I'd rather have them under my management than anyone else's."   
Yuffie, unable to find a comment just muttered a quiet "oh," in reply. Reeve simply continued with the contents of the folder that he'd pulled out. 

    "Now," he said, "I want you guys to take a look at this. These are the readings of an area of the forest on Goblin Island. Sometime yesterday, there were some electrical readings detected. I don't know what it was, but I've sent a reconnaissance team out to take a look. Hopefully it will be just some weird thing that happened... but I won't know until the team gets back. You guys should get prepared for the trip up to the crater... with all the new monsters around you should all be prepared against anything. I'll be there with you guys... as Cait. There's no way I could be up there by myself... being president does have its disadvantages."   
Cloud nodded understandingly. 

    "Alright. Okay, everyone. Let's get packed and be ready to go by tomorrow morning at 10 am. That should be good. We'll set off in the Highwind II... that alright Cid? Good." he said. Everyone nodded their head and then left. Cloud hung back to talk with Reeve. 

    "Reeve? About those readings on Golbin Island..." he started tentatively. Reeve looked up. 

    "The readings? What would you know about them Cloud?" he asked. 

    "Well... Goblin Island... ShinRa... had some kind of research facility out there... I believe that a lead scientist ran it... about..say, maybe fifty years back or something like that... Hojo was always muttering something about that.. when... you know, the experiments..." Cloud stated somewhat haltingly. Reeve nodded understandingly. Cloud had never been vocal about it, but Reeve sensed that the time that Cloud had spent at the mercy of Hojo was a horror beyond any comparison. 

    "Thanks for telling me Cloud. I'll keep it in mind. I'll update everyone if the team finds anything, ok?" Reeve said. Cloud nodded slowly. 

    "Be... careful. You never know what you're going to find in one of those labs." Cloud replied. Reeve nodded. 

    "I will." Reeve's eyes followed Cloud as he turned and walked out of the room. After he'd left, Reeve picked up the phone and dialed. 

    "Hello? About that recon team..." 

------------------------------------------------------ 

    In the ruined lab, the female creature was furiously tearing through the broken and battered lockers -although most of the damage had been /after/ she couldn't get the locks open... As she pulled out yet another lab coat, it appeared that her patience had finally run out and she swore. 

    "Piece of shit! Aren't there any /real/ clothes in these lockers? Don't any of these scientists have lives? Why the fuck are there so many lab coats!?" Annoyed, she 'opened' another locker only to be greeted with a trench coat. Eyebrow raised, she gingerly peeked into the rest of the locker. 

    "Hmm... Now /this/ I could use..." Pulling out a pair of black flaring pants, a small navy shirt and the beige trench coat, she smiled. Rummaging around the bottom of the locker, she found a pair of cross trainers.   
'Excellent...'   
However, her glee at finally finding some normal clothes quickly diminished as she realized a problem.   
'Is it possible to find a bra and socks around here?!' 

------------------------------------------------------ 

    Mark turned to his fellow trooper next to him and asked, 

    "How's the field? It all clear?" Samuel picked up his field goggles and look through them, out at the seemingly harmless meadow in front of them. Shaking his head, he said, 

    "It's all clear. So far there have been some small goblins and monsters, but the meadow is clear. Check it yourself." Tossing the field goggles at Mark, Samuel gazed out at the foliage around them. 

    "That's odd. Totally clear. Usually there would be some goblins underfoot or else something, like a bird. But... there's nothing." Mark said as he scanned the meadow. Samuel nodded in agreement. Another trooper ran up and saluted. 

    "Sir!" Mark turned to look at the new arrival. 

    "At ease. What's the report?" The trooper shook his head. 

    "Nothing. There's totally nothing out there. It's like there's this line on the ground -once you've passed it all you have for company are the trees and flowers sir. I told Jim and Steve to go and see if there's an electrical line or something in the ground that might be scaring away the animals and monsters sir... but so far nothing's turned up." he reported. Mark turned to Samuel and shook his head. 

    "Tell them to come back. Look's like we're just gonna have to go for that lab that the president told us about. Take a look-see huh?" Mark said before starting forward into the calm meadow. "Sam and I will go on ahead Will. Go and get Jim and Steve... catch up with us later alright?" Will nodded and ran off into the foliage. Mark and Samuel pressed on ahead, silent. 

    "Mark..." Samuel started. 

    "Yea?" Mark responded as he jumped over a log. 

    "This isn't right. The forest is too quiet. I mean, before, back in that meadow, even though there weren't any birds or anything, at least you could hear some forest sounds. But right now man, it's too quiet. Giving me the willies." Samuel said as he glanced nervously around at the walls of green surrounding them. The forest had gotten considerably thicker, pressing in as though it were a jungle. Mark nodded in agreement. 

    "I know. I keep having these weird feelings. You know... like something is about to hap-" Mark was interrupted by screams. Screams that were steadily getting louder as the person screaming got closer. Just as the duo made out who it was, the screams were abruptly cut off. The two looked wildly about, hearts pounding. 

    "That... that wasn't Jim, was it?" Samuel asked Mark. Mark only looked at Samuel. As if their thoughts were one, the duo turned and continued running in the direction of the lab.   
'Maybe we can make it to shelter...' 

------------------------------------------------------ 

    Cloud looked up to see the Highwind II above him. Looking at some of the new adjustments Cid had been able to add to his 'baby', and plus all the time spent on it, Cloud wondered how Cid was able to have time for a life. A tiny smile emerged at the corner of his mouth at that thought. He was soon aware of someone standing next to him, and he smiled.   
'Tifa...'   
As if sensing his acknowledgment, Tifa looked at him and said, 

    "The Highwind's all set Cloud. Everyone's ready to go." Cloud nodded, shouldered his duffle bag and walked to the rope that would bring him up to the Highwind. 

    Up in the control room, Cloud sat down and tried to relax.   
'Hojo... how is he back? Impossible... yet... if /he's/ back... how many other things are back from the 'dead' that we know of? And that lab on Goblin... it should be dust... nothing should be able to work...'   
Opening his eyes, Cloud saw red. Following it up with his eyes, he looked into the muffled face of Vincent. Vincent stared at Cloud for a long period of time before finally giving a slight nod and turning away, to go to his usual spot on the Highwind. Cloud turned his head, watching him. Giving the familiar shrug accompanied by a head scratch, Cloud wondered what had just happened. 

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    Mark and Samuel stumbled through the brush, occasionally tripping over some of the roots of the big trees. Blinded by fear, they ran for all they were worth. Terrified as they heard screams from another member of the reconnaissance team, they found speed that they didn't know they had. As the screams cut off abruptly like they had with Jim, the two men suddenly struck a dense wall of vines and flowers. It was as though the forest itself was against the two intruders as they struggled to break through the wall.   
'...for within an hour's time there grew up all around the park such a vast number of trees...neither man nor beast could pass through...'   
That thought was running through Mark's mind as he recalled a passage from the blue book of faery tales that he'd read for his daughter. Samuel, on the other hand was searching through his pack for some of the items they'd brought for emergencies. Pulling out a grenade, he dragged Mark back to a stone that they ducked behind before he threw it at the wall. With a boom, the tangle of vines and flowers exploded, leaving a nice hole for the men to run through. As they ran into their new surroundings, the two men quickly realized that they were no longer in the forest, but in a cargo area for what appeared to be a ruined lab. Mark stared, thoughts on the entity that killed two of their recon team members forgotten. Samuel gave a low whistle. 

    "So that's why that wall of vines and stuff was impossible to break through," he said, "it was really a wall of the science facility. Look! The stuff looks old, but maybe we can find something of use." The two nodded at each other and fanned out to look for some items of use. However, they froze when they heard heavy pounding noises in the forest... that were getting louder with every passing beat. Wide-eyed, the duo looked at each other before starting for the large exit door of the cargo area. 

    "It... sounds... like... some... kind... of... big... monster," Samuel panted out. Mark was barely able to nod in agreement as they ran through the old creaky doors of the cargo area. Finding themselves in a long hallway that stretched to both sides, they both made a snap decisions as they heard something that resembled a growl almost right behind them. Mark bolted left, while Samuel ran right. 

  
    Mark didn't take any second chances by looking behind him, but he could tell that he'd lost Sam and the monster. 

    "Great," he muttered as he slowed down a little to take in what he was passing by.   
'Storage room, meeting room, bath room, mess hall, very hot woman, storage room... what?!?!?!?'   
Doubling back to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he ran back in the direction of the doorway he'd seen the woman in. Only to run into a very nice, warm, solid chest. Looking up, Mark was on the verge of a nosebleed. The woman he'd passed by was tall, slim, had a beautiful face, and oh... so /very/ nice breasts... Shaken out of his thoughts (and drooling) by a quiet 'ahem', he quickly remembered /where/ he was. Throwing himself backwards quickly, he sputtered apologies. 

    "Who are you?" the woman asked. She had a very nice voice, Mark decided. Not high like some of the ladies he'd noticed with voices that could most certainly crack glass, the woman had a voice with lower undertones to it. Mark looked up into her black eyes and felt himself practically drowning in them. Ducking his head a little -realizing that he'd been staring, he felt his face flush as he muttered, 

    "Commander Mark O'Reilly ma'am. ShinRa army." The woman smiled at him, and Mark decided that she had a very nice smile too. 

The woman frowned uneasily as she realized that she did not know her own name. Quickly racking her brain, a name surfaced. Looking down at the man who had introduced himself as Commander Mark from the ShinRa army, she smiled slowly, and said, 

    "I'm Jetonna." 

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    Sam was having a really bad day. Not only had the recon mission been to a little place in the middle of nowhere, but now there was some weird /thing/ behind him, making /very/ heavy thumping sounds as steps. He could tell that he was alone; Mark had run the other way, leaving him with the monster -whatever it was. 

    "Shit..." Sam swore as he turned a corner only to be presented with a dead end.   
'Well, there /is/ that little door...'   
Sam didn't need any more coaxing to enter whatever was behind the door as the thumping sounds were dramatically louder... and as he could hear something like very high pitched screeching. Running for the door, he threw it open, and slammed it shut. Looking around, he realized that maybe outside the room would have been better than inside... as the flickering lights he thought were just parts of his imagination were really eyes... 

  
    Mark and Jetonna increased their jog to a full out run when they heard some screams coming from the end of the hallway that Sam had run. Pounding down the hallway, the duo made an abrupt stop when they came across what had been chasing Mark and Sam: a big, lizard-like creature with two huge arms equipped with long claws, and glowing green eyes. It bared its fangs as it hissed, then screeched at them. 

    Mark felt like his ears were about to explode on him as he dropped to the floor, clutching his head. So focused on his pain was he that he missed what Jetonna did. Jetonna stepped forward, unperturbed by the screeching from the monster. The only reaction she showed was annoyance on her face as she glared at the offending monster. Continuing its high pitched caterwauling, it charged her, intending to grab her and bite her head off. However, before it was able to even touch her, Jetonna held out her hand. 

    "Stop." And stop the monster did. Frozen in its tracks, the only thing it could do was glare at her. Jetonna's emerald eyes blazed as she whispered, 

    "Fire3." Instantly the monster was under attack by a fire3 spell, and it writhed and wailed as its body was consumed from the inside. Ignoring Mark, who was curled up on the floor, Jetonna ran for the door and opened it, to find Sam valiantly trying to fight off several goblins and zemzelletts. Taking in the situation, she cast a comet2 spell that took them all out. 

    A disheveled Sam looked up from where he was lying and stared. Jetonna inwardly rolled her eyes.   
'Men... they're all the same.'   
Looking around the room, she fought an internal battle to keep her face blank. The room was occupied by a whole row of tanks and other equipment. She could tell that it had previously been used for experiments on lab 'specimens' and other kinds of research. From the fact that the lab had been run by Hojo, Jetonna could tell /what/ kind of 'research' had gone on.   
'Hojo... you sick bastard...'   
Ignoring Sam who was struggling to get up, Jetonna flicked on the light switch and strode forward to the main command panel. Turning on the battered and filthy machinery that obviously hadn't been operational for some time, she was surprised that the computer actually booted up. 

'Amazing... this stuff looks as though it's been through a battle... and unused for a long time... but it still runs...' 

When the computer had come online, and the moniter in front of her had flickered to life, Jetonna read through the available files. Scanning down the long list of files, Jetonna was getting bored with all the mundane names until one caught her eye. The file was relatively smaller than the others, and was simply labelled, 'jetonna'. Curiousity peaked, she clicked on the file, only to find a solo tape recording. 

'The other files for this must have been erased...' 

Jetonna stared at the file for what seemed like a long time before opening it and listening to it. Her black eyes iced as she listened, giving the appearance of turning blue... When the recording finally ended, she stared at the the screen, oblivious to her surroundings. Pursing her lips, she pressed the "Delete" button and walked over to Sam and dumped a fullcure spell on him. Walking out of the room, she came upon Mark. He was still suffering the effects of the insect-like monster's wailing shriek, and was still lying on the floor. Jetonna regarded him for a moment before dumping a fullcure spell on him as well. Turning, and not bothering to wait for the two men to catch up to her, she stalked out of the medical complex. 

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    As the group climbed down the rope from the Highwind II, the wind beat down on them mercilessly. Icy snow fell down from the heavens as she poured out her wrath onto the frail mortals that dared to come near the planet's wound. Cloud shielded his face as the almost hail-like snow pelted his face. Spotting the entrance to the cave, he tried to attract everyone's attention towards it. Breaking into a run, he reached the tunnel first. He was joined shortly by the other members of the group. Looking over the faces of his friends, he checked to make sure they were all there, then set off down the tunnel. Almost immediately they were attacked by one of the mutated dark dragons. Dodging to one side with inhuman swiftness, Cloud managed to avoid the dragon's tail as it whipped it towards the intruders that were trespassing into its territory. However, one dark dragon, as large and as powerful as it was -mutated or not- was no match for a group of eight highly experienced fighters. It was soon dead; its corpse lying on the floor of the cave. 

    Yuffie wiped some of the black blood off her conformer. 

    "I don't see what's so hard about the stupid dragon. It's bigger, sure, but geez, it's not /that/ hard to kill."   
She said, making a face. 

    "I mean, from all those pictures you would have expected /something/ stronger than this, ya know?"   
    She said, waving towards the dead dragon. Cid took his ever present cigarette out of his mouth. 

    "The kid is right. This little piece of shit here wasn't much of a match for all of us."   
    He stated. Nanaki stepped forward. Walking near towards the remains of the dragon, he sniffed it. Sitting back, he shook his head. 

    "I can smell it... this creature had been modified with Jenova cells..." he said. 

    "Jenova cells?!" Yuffie exclaimed. 

    "...Looks like Reeve was correct after all." Vincent said. Everyone fell silent, thinking. Nanaki shook his head again. 

    "...We should see how the crater has been infected... Let's go see how far back these monsters run." he said. Everyone started down the tunnel slowly, now wary of what would attack them. 

- 

    Red panted as he jumped from one ledge to the next, careful of what would happen to him should he slip. Behind him Cid kept up a steady monologue as he strained to reach the ledge in front of him. Yuffie, up ahead turned and saw Cid's dilemma. 

    "Hey old man! Maybe you shouldn't be jumping ledges like this! You can have your exercise climbing up the Highwind's rope ladder instead!" She taunted. Cid made a face. 

    "Why I outta-" 

    "Quiet!" Vincent, up ahead of the whole group held up his claw for silence. Cloud leaned, trying to see. 

    "What is it Vincent?" He asked softly. The others, now on the alert strained their senses for anything that sounded out of place. However, the only thing they could hear was the sound of water dripping. The group remained silent, listening. 

_ drip... _

drip... 

drip... 

drip... 

Just as Yuffie was about to complain about her cramping leg from being still for so long in her most uncomfortable position that she'd frozen in, a wet splash was heard. The sound of pebbles and other silt falling accompanied it, and then silence, with the exception of the dripping water. 

    "What-" She started to say, but was cut off as some kind of flying reptilian monster flew out of the surrounding darkness towards her. Her question turned into a scream as the monster attacked her face, and she sunk to her knees, batting at it frantically. A gunshot was heard, and the thing screeched before falling off of her, down the long, long drop to the bottom. Tifa hurried to Yuffie as quickly as she could, and examined the damage. Her face was a mess. Her cheeks were scratched, eyes gouged, lips torn. Blood was all over her face, tracing lines down her cheeks as she sobbed frantically. 

    "I can't see! It hurts... Is someone there? I can't see... fuck... It goddamn hurts! Someone!"   
Her pain and blindness were bringing her to the verge of panic as she groped about, crying. Tifa quickly grabbed a questing hand as the others looked on with something akin to horror and shock. 

    "Shh, Yuffie, we're here. Don't worry..... I'm going to heal you ok? It's ok... calm down..."   
Tifa tried to sooth Yuffie as she pulled her slowly into a hug.   
_'Hopefully nothing materia can't cure,'_   
She thought grimly as she held her hands over Yuffie's face. A gentle, green glow surrounded her hands as she cast fullcure on Yuffie. When the glow faded, Yuffie's face was normal again. Tifa looked at Cloud. 

    "I'm going to take her back to the Highwind." she said. Cloud nodded. 

    "Stay with her... we'll go on just a bit more, then come back to you guys." He said. 

    "Wait." Cait Sith suddenly spoke up. "Looks like the recon team I sent to Goblin found something. Sorry, but this trip will have to be cut short guys. I know that you all want to continue and all, but there's something really important that you should all see." Cloud nodded. 

    "Aight. Let's go back to the Highwind." 

* * *

    Ok... evil... I even leave my teaser off at a cliffhanger... anyways, yea... This is my first ffvii fic... and I started it like.. uhh... about two years or so ago... I finally got started on it....but the plotline (as far as I can see) is gonna be *long*. Like, really *long*. I dunno what I'm going to do with this since I just started writing without a real plotline in mind... so expect long breaks between even this teaser and the first chapter.. sorry to anyone who will try and burn me to continue... flames will be given to the homeless on the street so they can be nice and warm...   
latez... I'm probably not going to update for a long time... my other fics are calling me.. > ~jetonna 


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